CLEARWATER, Fla. — Ryan Howard has had a hop in his step in these early days of spring training. For a man who at this time last year didn’t even have a step, that is an improvement.

“My left leg,” Howard said during a press session Thursday, “feels phenomenal compared to this time last year (and) compared to where it was when I came back.”

Next on the docket for the first baseman: Adding a bounce to his performance. After missing the opening three months of the 2012 season while recovering from the surgery needed to fix the Achilles’ tendon he ruptured on the final out of the Phillies’ 2011 postseason, he hit a career-low .219 in 71 games. His on-base (.295) and slugging (.423) percentages also were career-lows. If there were bright spots, they would be the fact that his home run (14) and RBI (56) totals showed there remained some pop and production in his bat.

“When I came back there was obviously still a limp,” Howard said. “I tried to do what I could.”

Advertisement

At 33, there are those who wonder if his days of being a Most Valuable Player candidate — he finished in the top five of voting every year from 2006-09, including a win in 2006 — are gone for good.

The ticking clock was more of a ticking time bomb for Howard. He knows all the talk about the Phillies getting too old to compete. He doesn’t buy it.

“First, I want to address this old thing because that’s all I keep hearing — people talking about older and older and older and older,” Howard said. “There (was) a guy in this league — Jamie Moyer — I’m sure people told him he was old and this and that, but Jamie Moyer would go out every year and show people that he can play and he can get it done.

“I don’t buy into the old thing. It’s all about how young you feel inside and how well you take care of yourself. Everybody in this clubhouse goes out and works their butt off … If people want to call us old, that’s fine. But I think going out there this year we’re going to show people that we’re not old.”

To be clear, the Phillies did, indeed, have the highest average age of position players in the National League last year — 31.1 years — and the 14 hitters with likely spots on the 25-man roster (counting Carlos Ruiz, who will start the year on a 25-game suspension) average more than 30 years of age this season.

The fact is the Phillies are one of the older teams in baseball. The question is, will their bodies act like it again this season?

“You can look at the clock if you want,” Howard said, “but we’re focused on playing baseball. Talk about this and talk about that, but all we have to do is take it day by day and at the end of the season (and) hopefully we reign supreme and we can bring that clock thing back up and you can tell me what time it is.

“Call us old if you want to, if you want to sweep us under the rug … just don’t be surprised.”

In truth, much of the Phillies’ prospects for a bounce-back season depend on Howard and Chase Utley, who missed a combined 170 games. While the team talks about giving the two of them some days off when needed, Howard didn’t seem to think that was necessary.

“I want to be out there and I want to play 162 games if I can,” said Howard, who called his Achilles’ heel a non-factor. “If Charlie (Manuel) wants to mix in a day off here and there, that’s fine. But I’m trying to prepare myself mentally and physically to play 162 games ... That’s why I train and that’s why I do what I do: To go out here and play 162. I’m not the kind of guy who wants to go out and play 150 games and be cool with that.”